Albuquerque police cold-case detectives were hoping to crack a 20-year-old case by digging in the field. Instead, investigators left the scene with more unsolved cases than they came with in the first place.

“They discovered what appeared to be human remains,” Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Williamson said.

A partial female skeleton was discovered in the area near Broadway and Bobby Foster in January. Albuquerque police wondered if the remains belonged to missing mother Velda Leyba.

According to our media partners at the Albuquerque Journal, Leyba and her friend, Lisa Duncan, were last seen at a home near Gibson and I-25 more than 20 years ago. Duncan's body was eventually found, but Leyba’s never was.

Albuquerque police came back to the field Wednesday to see if the bones from January were Leyba’s. They discovered that they weren’t and discovered even more human remains.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is now investigating. Williamson said the bones could belong to the same person as before, but it could complicate the investigation if the remains are from two different people.

“We’ll obviously investigate a little bit deeper and determine how many are buried in that area,” Williamson said.

Deputies said animals may have dragged the bones to the field from a gravesite, but they haven’t ruled out something more sinister.